Muscogee (Creek) materials, Frank G. Speck Papers
Culture:
Date: 1904-1947
Contributor: Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), 1881-1950 | Gamio, Manuel, 1883-1960 | Giger, Leona E. | Opler, Morris Edward, 1907-1996 | Rolland, Ann | Ball, Carl | Swanton, John Reed, 1873-1958 | Schultes, Richard Evans | McNickle, D'Arcy, 1904-1977
Subject: Anthropology | Ethnography | Botany | Botany | Linguistics | Economic conditions | Orthography and spelling | Dance | Haskell Institute | Material culture | Clothing and dress | Folklore | Mythology | Music | Alabama--History
Type: Text | Three-dimensional object
Genre: Correspondence | Notes | Drafts | Essays | Notebooks | Sheet music
Extent: 14 folders
Description: Materials relating to Speck's study of Creek history, language, and culture. Includes Speck's own notes and work, including "Notes on Social and Economic Conditions Among the Creek Indians of Alabama in 1941" (published as Speck 1947); an undated earlier version of that essay titled "Creek Indians Surviving in Alabama"; 115 pages of linguistic notes from Taskigitown, dated 1904-1905 and organized by categories; Creek and Yuchi songs; Creek and Yuchi Dance; 98 pages of Creek texts, including some interlineal translations, and related notes dated 1904-1905; and 35 pages of miscellaneous notes and letters on topics like dances, language, clothing, myths, handicrafts, and fieldwork. Also includes two botanical specimens--Coopti (Zamia floridana) used by Seminoles, 1941 and Ilex vomitoria Ait, used by Creeks--accompanied by letters to Speck from Richard Evans Schultes concerning Houma Botany; two letters from female students at the Haskell Institute in 1940 (Leona Giger writes of a Creek doll she is making and mentions the council house at Okmulgee, Oklahoma, while Ann Rolland offers to answer questions on Creek use of feathers); a letter from Morris Opler regarding Opler's work among the Creeks, as well as an essay by Opler about the organization, history, and social and political significance of Creek towns; a letter from Mario Gamio acknowledging the receipt of a Creek Indian pamphlet; and a letter from D'Arcy McNickle returning to Speck photographs of the Creek Indians of Atmore, Alabama to prevent them from getting lost and mentioning that his manuscript of the report is still being copied.
Collection: Frank G. Speck Papers Mss.Ms.Coll.126